Cushioned furniture

ABSTRACT

Cushioned furniture utilizing a crescent-shaped cushion. The cushion has loops spaced along an outside edge thereof and hooks at the ends thereof. The hooks of one cushion may be joined to the loops of an adjacent cushion. Two or more of such cushions joined together complete an item of furniture.

United States Patent [19] Plate [4 1 Oct. 14, 1975 1 CUSI-IIONED FURNITURE [75] Inventor: Richard W. R. Plate, Frankenburg,

Germany [73] Assignee: Knoll International, Inc., New York,

[22] Filed: Nov. 15, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 415,996

[52] US. Cl. S/352; 5/337; 297/1 18 [51] Int. Cl. A47C 23/00; A47C 13/00 [58] Field of Search D6/37, 38, 39; 5/352, 357, 5/345, 337, 338, 327 R, 327 B; 297/118,

456, 452, 461, 462, 393, DIG. l

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 726,164 4/1903 Hogan et a1. 5/338 3,216,027 11/1965 Jackson 5/352 X 3,426,372 2/1969 Enelow 5/337 3,513,491 5/1970 Gordon 5/357 X 3,610,689 10/1971 Smith 3,775,785 12/1973 Mittendorf 5/357 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 835,455 6/1960 United Kingdom 297/393 385,694 1/1933 United Kingdom 5/337 Primary ExaminerPaul R. Gilliam Assistant ExaminerAndrew M. Calvert Attorney, Agent, or FirmCooper, Dunham, Clark, Griffin & Moran ABSTRACT Cushioned furniture utilizing a crescent-shaped cushion. The cushion has loops spaced along an outside edge thereof and-hooks at the ends thereof. The hooks of one cushion may be joined to the loops of an adjacent cushion. Two or more of such cushions joined together complete an item of furniture.

8 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct. 14,1975 Sheet 1 of3 3,911,512

Sheet 2 of 3 U.S. Patent Oct. 14, 1975 U.S. Patent 001. 14, 1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,911,512

CUSHIONED FURNITURE BACKGROUND AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to furniture. More particularly it relates to furniture of modular form in which one or more modules may be employed asdesired by a user to form a completed item of furniture.

The module is a crescent-shaped cushion. The cushion typically includes fastening members along an outside edge thereof and complementary fasteners at the ends thereof. The complementary fasteners of one cushin are joined to the fastening members of another cushion to position two cushions adjacent to each other. By utilizing two or more cushions so joined together, and varying the relative positions of the cushions with respect to each other, different items of furniture can be easily produced by a user having an overall configuration determined completely by the user.

Advantageously the fastening members are loops formed from a ribbon of material sewn along the outside edge of the crescent-shaped or woven integrally into the material of the cushion, to name a few examples. Advantageously the cushion is generally oval in sections that are taken substantially perpendicular to the curved cushion edges, and the areas of these oval sections decrease from the central portion of the cushion to the ends thereof. Additionally, the curved outside and inside edges of the crescent-shaped cushion may be of equal radii of curvature. These particular cushion criteria have been found to be particularly advantageous in the nesting of cushions one against another.

A crescent-shaped cushion is easily formed, for example, from upper and lower crescent-shaped pieces of material that are sewn together along one edge thereof and joined together by a zipper along the other edge thereof, for example.

The invention will be more completely understood by reference to the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a crescent-shaped cushion in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cushion of FIG. 1 taken along the section 22.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views, to an enlarged scale of representative fastening members useful in the cushion of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 5-8 show cushions joined together in different ways to complete different items of furniture.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a crescent-shaped piece of material used in forming the cushion of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the cushion of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. 1, a crescent-shaped cushion is shown. The cushion includes a curved outside edge 20a and a curved inside edge 20b. As shown in FIG. 2, the cushion is typically formed from an upper piece of material 22 and a lower piece of material 24 joined together by sewing along the outside edge 20a, for example, and by a zipper 26 along the inside edge 20b. The cushion may be filled with a padding material 28, for example, or it may be inflated with air.

A plurality of fastening members 30 are included along the outside edge 20a of the cushion. The loops 30 may be woven integrally into the material of the cushion or into a ribbon 32 that is in turn sewed onto the cushion along the outside edge 20a. The ribbon 32 is shown in FIG. 3. Another example of fastening members is shown in FIG. 4 in which loops 30 are formed from a strand of material 34 that is sewn onto ribbon 32'. In any event, a plurality of such fastening members are advantageously included along the outside edge 20a of the cushion spaced equidistantly from each other.

Complementary fasteners 36 adapted to coact with the fastening members 30 of another cushion are attached to the ends of the crescent-shaped cushion 20 as shown in FIG. 1.

Different arrangements of furniture utilizing a plurality of cushions as shown in FIG. 1 may be formed as shown in FIGS. 5-8. FIGS. 5 and 6, for example, show how two cushions 20-1 and 20-2 may be joined together to define a seat. FIG. 7 shows how three of such cushions 20-3, 20-4 and 20-5 may be joined together to form a different type of seat. As another example, FIG. 8 shows how four of such cushions 20-6, 20-7, 20-8 and 20-9 may be joined together to form yet another seating arrangement.

It will be noted that by varying the joining of the cushions to one another and a number of cushions, different items of furniture may be made very simply and changed very simply at will. The crescent-shaped cushion with its fastening members along the outside edge thereof and its complementary fasteners at the ends thereof permits many, varied uses of the cushions.

As noted above the cushion is advantageously formed from upper and lower pieces of material 22 and 24. Each piece may take the form shown in FIG. 9 of sheet 22, which is generally crescent-shaped. The sheet has cut-away portions 22a along outside edge 22b to facilitate forming the compound curves present in the cushion itself. The periphery of the sheet 22 comprises the outside edge 22b which is curved. This outside edge surface leads substantially tangentially at the ends thereof into two oppositely curved extensions 22c. The oppositely curved extensions in turn lead into substantially straight-line segments 22d that extend generally toward a common point. The segments 22d in turn lead into a curved inside edge surface 22'e which is generally of a curvature corresponding to that of the outside edge surface 22b.

When the two sheets of material 22 and 24 are sewn together to form a cushion as in FIG. 2, that cushion appears as shown in plan view in FIG. 10. In particular, the periphery of the cushion is defined by the curved outside edge surface 200 which ends in substantially straight-line tangential extensions 20a-l. These extensions in turn lead into straight-line segments 20a-2 substantially at right angles thereto and which extend generally toward each other. These segments in turn lead into the curved inside edge surface 20b. The surfaces 20a and 20b are substantially parallel to each other in a preferred form of cushion. The centers 40 and 42 of curvature of these edges are spaced from each other by an amount in the neighborhood of the length of one of the radii of curvature. In a preferred embodiment radii of curvature 44 are each 52.25 centimeters. The centers 40 and 42 of curvature are spaced apart by 3.7 centimeters more than the length of one of these radii, i.e., spaced apart in the neighborhood of 55.95 centimeters. The extensions 20a-l are 29.9 centimeters in this presently preferred embodiment, while the segments a-2 are each 2.2 centimeters long. I

These dimensions are, of course, simply representative and are included to give an indication of one form of cushion in accordance with the invention that has suitable nesting characteristics with respect to other cushions.

The cushion when viewed in section taken substantially perpendicular to the curved edges 20a and 20b of the cushion is generally oval. The areas of the oval sections decrease from the central portion of the cushion to the ends thereof. As noted above this shape renders the cushion suitable for nesting one with another; this sectional shape may be varied.

It will be appreciated that representative embodiments of the invention have been disclosed above. The specific details of the cushion as shown are presently preferred. The invention, however, should not be taken to be limited specifically to these details but rather should be taken to be defined by the appended claims.

1 claim:

1. A cushion useful in making an item of furniture comprising a crescent-shaped cushion having a curved outside edge and a curved inside edge meeting at two ends of the cushion, said cushion being generally oval in sections taken substantially perpendicular to the curved edges of the cushion and in which the areas of the oval sections decrease from the central portion of the cushion to the ends thereof, a plurality of individual fastening members positioned along said outside cushion edge, and a complimentary fastener of the type adapted to coact with one of said fastening members and located generally at each of said two cushion ends. 2. The combination of a plurality of cushions each ion with particular ones of the fastening members of an adjacent cushion.

3. An item of furniture according to claim 2 in which two of such cushions are joined together with the complimentary fasteners of one cushion being joined to the fastening members of the other cushion at a mid-region of the outside edge of said other cushion.

4. An item of furniture according to claim 2 in which two of such cushions are joined together with the complimentary fasteners of one cushion attached to the fastening members of the other cushion adjacent the ends of said other cushion.

5. A cushion according to claim] in which said fastening members comprise one or more loops of material.

6. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said loops are formed from a ribbon of material sewn along said outside cushion edge.

7. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said loops are woven integrally into said ribbon of material sewn onto said cushion.

8. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said complementary fasteners comprise hooks adapted to engage said loops. 

1. A cushion useful in making an item of furniture comprising a crescent-shaped cushion having a curved outside edge and a curved inside edge meeting at two ends of the cushion, said cushion being generally oval in sections taken substantially perpendicular to the curved edges of the cushion and in which the areas of the oval sections decrease from the central portion of the cushion to the ends thereof, a plurality of individual fastening members positioned along said outside cushion edge, and a complimentary fastener of the type adapted to coact with one of said fastening members and located generally at each of said two cushion ends.
 2. The combination of a plurality of suchions each according to claim 1 and removably joined together to make an item of furniture by the removable fastening together of the complimentary fasteners of each cushion with particular ones of the fastening members of an adjacent cushion.
 3. An item of furniture according to claim 2 in which two of such cushions are joined together with the complimentary fasteners of one cushion being joined to the fastening members of the other cushion at a mid-region of the outside edge of said other cushion.
 4. An item of furniture according to claim 2 in which two of such cushions are joined together with the complimentary fasteners of one cushion attached to the fastening members of the other cushion adjacent the ends of said other cushion.
 5. A cushion according to claim 1 in which said fastening members comprise one or more loops of material.
 6. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said loops are formed from a ribbon of material sewn along said outside cushion edge.
 7. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said loops are woven integrally into said ribbon of material sewn onto said cushion.
 8. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said complementary fasteners comprise hooks adapted to engage said loops. 